Machine for treating crackers.



0. B. GILMAN. MACHINE FOR TREATING ORAGKERS. APPLICATION FILED PEILZB,1910.

1,019,630, Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

Wrwaaasl jive whw I @MHW 3. E. 3'? W 1 M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. A

OSMON B. GILMAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

MACHINE FOR TREATING CRACKERS.

Specification of Letters Batent.

Patented Mar. 5, 1912.

Application filed February 28, 1910. serial No. 546,516.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Osnox B. GILMAN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolkand State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Machine forTreating Crackers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart thereof.

. This .invention has reference to an improved machine for treatingcrackers and similar food products whereby, as one of the final steps inthe manufacture of crackers or similar articles of food, said crackersor articles, while still warm, and in the absorptive and expansive statecaused by the heat of the baking oven thereon, are subjected to butteroil held in suspension, in atomized condition, in air, in order thatsaid oil may be absorbed by the crackers or articles before the slightcontraction, in cooling, effects the closing of the pores inthe outersurface. Such application of butter oil to the heated cracker or articlebeing adapted to give a peculiar toasted flavor to the cracker while thecontraction of the cracker or article after the application of thebutter oil effects the drawing or absorption of the oil, away from thesurface, leaving said surface dry.

One object of this invention is to' so ap ply butter oil to crackers andsimilar articles of food that said oil may be distributed evenlythroughout all of said crackers or articles.

Another object of the invention is to apply said oil to said crackerseconomically and in such manner that the surplus oil ma be saved.

ther objects of the invention will appear from the followingdescription.

The invention consists in such novel fea-- tures of construction andcombination of parts as shall hereinafter be more fully described andpointed out in the claims,

Figure 1, represents a vertical sectional view of the improved machinefor treating, crackers and other food products.

Fig. 2, represents an elevation of the improved oil atomizer or sprayerremoved from the machine, parts thereof being broken away. Fig. 3,represents a cross sectional view of the oil atomizer taken on line 33,Fig. 2.

Similar numbers of reference designate corresponding parts throughout.

As shown in the drawings, in its preferred form, 5 and 6 representrollers on which the perforated or open belt 7 is movably mounted. Anyusual and well known mechanism may be utilized to effect the driving ofsaid belt 7 through the rotation of one of said rollers 5 or 6. Belowthe upper reach of the belt 7 is located the oil receiving pan 8 and atthe end of the machine is placed the receptacle 9 adapted to receive thearticles after they havebeen subjected to this process. Above the upperreach of belt 7 is located the oil atomizing and sprayingdevice whichcomprises the cylindrical shell 10 having at one end the oil supply pipe11 which extends to the oil reservoir 12 and is furnished with the valve13 of any usual construction. This shell 10 is formed as a tubularslotted structure or hearing open between its edges 10, 10' which arefurnished with upwardly extending cars 14, 14. and 15, provided withclamping screws 16, 16 and 17, of which the latter has portion ofsaidshell 10 has the longitudinally extending air chamber 19, between oneedge (20) of which and the wall of said shell is formed the air slot oroutlet 21,--communicating with which is the series of perforations 22,22 formed in the wall of said shell 10 and extending in a direction todeliver oil to the upper portion of the inclined plate or deflector 23extending from the edge 20 of the air chamber 19. Air is supplied to thechamber 19 by the pipe 24 leading from the fan chamber 25 or othersource of air pressure supply.

Within the shell 10 is mounted the tube 26, open at its inner end, whichis free to slide and rotate in said shell under frictional contacttherewith for adjustment to bring its series of perforations 27, 27 intoregistry with the perforations 22, 22 of the shell 10, such inwardsliding movement of this tube 26 being limited by its flange 28 whensaid flange is intercepted by the end of said shell 10 while therotative movement of this. tube 26, to bring its perforations 27, 27partly or wholly into registry with the perforations 22, 22 is gaged bythe position of the point 29 of said tube with relation to the point 18and when so adjusted said tube 26 is secured against movement by thetightening of the clamping screws 16, 16 and 17 In the operation of thisimproved machine for treating crackers, I supply the usual and wellknown manner and, upon the opening of valve 13, said butter oil flowsthrough pipe 11 into one end of the shell 10 and thence through the openend of the tube 26 to the interior of said tube from whence said oilpasses through the perforations 27, 27, and 22, 22, respectively of saidtube 26 and shell 10, and drops toward the upper portion of the inclinedplate 23. In their I movement across the air outlet 20 the drops of oilare to a large extent atomized and the atomized particles thereof arecarried forward in suspension, by the airand, as the pressure of the airdecreases, fall toward the belt 7 as an oily vapor; In the meantimecrackers have been prepared for treatment by preparing dough, formingthe dough into crackers and baking the crackers in an oven in the usualmanner. Upon the removal of the crackers a, a from 'the oven theyareplaced upon the belt 7 while still hot and, preferably before theirpores have had opportunity to close, are carried for ward by said beltthrough the cloud of oily vapor formed by the atomized butter oilwhereby the heated crackers are supplied with atomized butte1 oil whilethe surplus oil passesthrough the openings or perforations in the belt 7and is received in the pan 8. By the time the belt 7 begins to curvedownward, following the periphery of roller 6, the crackers a, a havecooled su fficiently to effect the partial closing of the pores in theircrusts and said crusts are dry and practically free from oil, which isattracted by the still warm center.

It is, of "course, obvious that many other articles than crackers canbe'treated by this machine with good results.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent In a machine for treating crackers and similararticles with oil, an oil spraying mechanism comprising a slottedshellhaving a longitudinally extending series of perforations and anexterior air chamber having an outlet in line with said perforations anda deflector plate, means mounted on said shell for contracting thediameter of said shell, a tubularvalve rotatable and slidable withinsaid shell and having a line of perforations adapted to be brought intoregistry with the perforations of said shell, said valve having meansadapted to be intercepted by said shell to limit the sliding movementof, said "valve in one direction, substantially as o s-MoN BIGILMAN.Witnesses:

described.

E. T. RocHE, N.. J. MILLER.

